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Young Guns: Ashleigh Barty

Every day this week wtatennis.com has been showcasing Young Guns, those who showed signs of future stardom in 2013.

A former junior Wimbledon champion in singles, Ashleigh Barty truly established herself as a rising doubles star in 2013, and her style certainly belies plenty of more doubles success in her future.

"I try to be an all-court player," Barty said. "I like to use variety, use the slice and mix things up a little with a few droppies as well. I think my strength would be having the ability to have this variety and playing shots that other girls may not know how to play or have in their repertoire, I suppose."

Here is some evidence from 2013 that qualifies the 17-year-old Australian as a Young Gun:

• Alongside fellow Aussie Casey Dellacqua, Barty was a titlist at Birmingham and runner-up at the Australian Open, Wimbledon and US Open, eventually finishing fifth in the Race To Istanbul.• Barty had a 23-9 record in WTA doubles matches in 2013.• Barty went from a season-ending doubles ranking of No.172 for 2012 to No.12 for 2013.

Barty has come a long way in singles too, with a quarterfinal showing in Kuala Lumpur, main draw wins at the French Open and US Open and a career-high ranking of No.129 among her accomplishments in 2013.

"I just want to be the best player that I can be," Barty said. "I have no set goals for ranking or anything like that, I just want to try and reach my potential and have some fun while I'm doing so. I'm just kind of playing it by ear and enjoying the journey."

An exclamation point was added to Barty's 2013 résumé when she was named Tennis Australia's Junior Athlete of the Year at the Newcombe Medal Awards on Monday.